[SOLVED] Can I use C++ class members initialized in the initializer list, later in the list?

Can I use C++ class members initialized in the initializer list, later in the list?

I am rewriting some code to eliminate global variables and made a class constructor/destructor handle cleanup of some third party library resources, but I am concerned about some code which initializes one member from another member in the class initializer list.

class MyPodofoDocument {
public:
    // generates pdf to stream
    MyPodofoDocument(std::stringstream *pStringStream)
        : device(pStringStream), document(&device)
    {
    }
private:
    PoDoFo::PdfOutputDevice device;
    PoDoFo::PdfStreamedDocument document;
    PoDoFo::PdfPainter painter;
};

The code which uses this class doesn't need to see all the details that go into using the library, but the way I hide them makes it dependent on using members to initialize other members, before it hits the constructor's actual code block, where it has a valid this pointer.

It works in a unit test skeleton, so my question is basically, "Is this okay, portable and safe?"

Solution

The members are initialized in the order they are declared, top to bottom

PoDoFo::PdfOutputDevice device;
PoDoFo::PdfStreamedDocument document;
PoDoFo::PdfPainter painter;

so it is safe to use device to initialize document.